FOR companies involved in the world of premium spirits, the reopening of indoor hospitality couldn’t come quick enough.
Luckily for Belfast’s Drinksology Kirker Greer, the rest of the world was still drinking Jawbox Gin and its other premium lines during the pandemic, helping it absorb the collapse in behind the bar sales.
It meant the company continued to grow last year thanks its entry into new markets such as South Africa, North America and Australia.
Originally set up as a design company in 2007 by Steven Pattison and Richard Ryan, Drinksology Kirker Greer initially evolved into a wholesaler of a hard-to-find spirits before turning its hand to developing and distributing its own brands.
Now a globally minded operation split between Belfast and Dublin, it appointed John Soden as its chief commercial officer in March to take charge of its vigorous global growth and distribution strategy.
A seasoned veteran of the drinks business, he helped develop brands like Jameson with Pernod Ricard.
Now he’s planning on doing the same with the expanding Kirker Greer portfolio, including a new Japanese made range Ukiyo that has recently hit the market, joining the likes of Jawbox, Ginato Italian Gin and Bowsaw American Whiskey.
But speaking from his home in Wicklow, John is particularly taken with the group’s brand new Irish whiskey, Black Irish, which is literally black in colour.
“We age it in heavily charred casks, so that imparts a lot of colour. Then we infuse the whiskey with stout and that imparts colour and then we have infusions of chocolate malt.
“You get this beautiful dark whiskey,” he said.
“We’re literally just starting to sell it intro distribution in the last week. So we should see it in all the pubs and restaurants in Belfast and across the province before the end of June.
“It’s a magnificent package. It’s a bottle with a crown seal that you take off with an opener like a beer bottle, then it has a pop-top to close it, which is unique in the Irish whiskey business.”
But in a lengthy career, he hasn’t experienced a year for the industry like the past 12 months.
“It was a mad year last year in terms of all sales happening in retail.”
But did the retail boom make up for the hit from hospitality for a premium spirits company?
“It depends on the market,” said John. “Not at all in Northern Ireland, no way. It didn’t even come close, so we were significantly hit by that.
“But if you take a market like Australia, it did.
“Overall for us, we grew slightly last year. But it was because we were opening in those new markets.
“In terms of the existing markets we were in, particularly Northern Ireland and GB, it didn’t compensate at all, it didn’t come close. We took a hit with all of the restaurants and bars being closed.”
Breaking ground with a new brand was extremely difficult in the past year.
“Retailers were not really interested in new brands during lockdown. They were more interested in battening down the hatches and being able to source their normal brands in large quantities at low prices.
“That hurt a business like ours, which is very much a premium, business.”
Video: This Belfast design company is behind the best bar in the world
The industry veteran was also keen to highlight that the demise of gin has been greatly exaggerated.
“There’s a lot of talk about the death of gin and the fad and that’s it’s over, but it’s not.
“What we’re seeing is a bit of a shake-out, as there is so many brands in there that a lot of retailers probably have more gins than they’d like, in terms of what’s actually selling.
“Some brands will do better than others, but it’s still a strong category and growing and it’ll grow again this year.”
Industry analyser IWSR has forecast that gins in the premium category will continue to grow at high rates into 2023.
The increasingly competitive market is expected to push prices down.
“Jawbox is still in its infancy, it’s only a five-year-old brand and we see opportunities for expanding distribution around the globe.
“We think there’s opportunity in premium spirits, great drinks that fantastic packaging and great stories.”
